Many Americans didn't bother to vote in the past presidential election, some out of apathy or a belief that the election would hardly affect them. They are in for a rude awakening now that Obama has won re-election. His Santa Claus false promises are unsustainable, so there are going to be few winners and a lot of losers as he redistributes wealth. Obama ran on a platform of making the rich pay their fair share of taxes, but raising taxes on the wealthy will only fund the federal government for eight days a year. In order to even partially keep up with federal spending and debt payments, he will have to find new ways to take money from the middle class.

Private sector 401k and IRA owners are first on the Democrats' radar and may see their plans taken away soon. House Democrats are planning on eliminating those tax breaks and converting the private plans to government-controlled retirement accounts, where they will be at risk for insolvency.

The poor and lower middle classes filing bankruptcy are the next demographic being selectively targeted by the Obama administration. Last spring, federal bankruptcy courts and trustees started aggressively going after the paltry assets and incomes of the poorest Americans filing bankruptcy, demanding portions of their low wages, and assets such as their only car, in order to bring in more money for federal coffers and declare that bankruptcies have gone down under Obama. This was implemented despite federal bankruptcy laws' promise of a fresh start for the poor filing bankruptcy. Last year, bankruptcy courts targeting the poor like this was unheard of. Now, millions of Americans in the real estate industry who lost their jobs are finding out there is little relief for them in bankruptcy, as they are forced to pay bankruptcy attorneys to defend them in additional proceedings that can drag out for months.

Certain industries, anticipating worse economic times with Obama's re-election, have begun laying off thousands of workers. Some CEOs boldly announced the layoffs the day after the election, blaming them on Obama. The main industries laying off employees include technology, wireless, retail, grocery and healthcare, where the lowest-level employees have been hardest hit. Restaurant chains like Papa Johns are slashing employees' hours to less than 40 hours a week in order to avoid the expense of Obamacare and are raising prices.

Many middle class Americans will see their pensions eliminated or slashed, financially devastating for those under 55 years old who are aware that Social Security will be insolvent by the time they retire. The percentage of workers in America covered by a traditional pension plan fell from 62 percent in 1983 to 17 percent in 2007.

Government employees, represented by Obama-supporting public unions, fought tooth and nail to ensure that Obama won re-election, but Obama is not saving all their jobs and pensions. Older Americans falsely believed that if they paid into a government pension and relied upon it, it would be there for them when they retired. This is not true; it is no longer just newly hired employees who need to worry about losing their pensions. One retired firefighter in Rhode Island had his pension cut by $1,100/mth, and other firefighters saw their pensions cut by more than half. Several states have cut cost of living increases for existing pensioners. Many state and local governments are laying off employees. This is a pattern that is increasing, not decreasing around the country.

Non-union members are losing their pensions at an even higher rate than union employees. 20,000 auto employees lost most of their pensions when the U.S. Treasury Department decided to bail out General Motors. At the same time, those GM employees who were part of the United Auto Workers Union saw their pensions topped off and preserved. Pensions in the private sector are increasingly underfunded. Verizon's private pension plan is underfunded by $3.4 billion. If economic conditions continue to deteriorate, bankruptcy may not protect them. When corporations file bankruptcy, the courts tend to let them out of pension obligations to employees and retired employees.

Americans living in states where private sector employees are outnumbered by those dependent on government will be affected the worst. Known as death spiral states, these 11 states are considered high risk for economic default, shunned by investors. Americans in the real estate, investment, hospitality and tourism industries especially will face tougher times in these states over the next few years as those industries shrivel up and lay off workers, and municipal bankruptcies increase. Financial affairs in Stockton, California, have gotten so bad that police will only respond to calls for assistance if there is blood involved. Since 2009, the city has cut 25 percent of its police officers, 30 percent of its Fire Department and over 40 percent of all other city employees.

Everyone is familiar with troubled Hollywood star Lindsay Lohan's multiple prosecutions for theft, drunk driving incidents, traffic accidents and drug use. Yet no matter how many times she is arrested, she never serves more than a few days in jail because Los Angeles County cannot afford to lock up anyone but the most serious felons.

These are a just a few of the many ways Obama is stealthily taking away more money from the middle class. He brazenly targets certain types of Americans for austere fiscal measures, while giving others a free pass. He bails out Government Motors and its union employees with taxpayers' money, while Americans in the real estate industry who did nothing wrong are hassled for months as they try to file bankruptcy, with some of their bankruptcies ultimately thrown out. The liberal-dominated media has helped Obama accomplish this by failing to write about the selective targeting. Instead, the media hypes up stories of Obama playing Santa Claus. Obama does not care about the middle class, he cares about which special interests, such as unions, can contribute the most to Democrats' elections.

If Mitt Romney had been elected president, he would have pulled government out of the business of choosing winners and losers, allowing the private sector to create jobs and wealth again. Instead, the U.S. has turned into a feeding frenzy, with Americans fighting and clawing for whatever they can get at the expense of their neighbors.

Dennis Prager commented during the campaign on the support for Obama among younger voters, saying Never in history have so many people voted so enthusiastically against their own interests.

He could have said the same thing about rich liberals, low-income people, and minorities. All will suffer as Obama leads these lemmings off the fiscal cliff.

The result of the turmoil is likely to be more federal intervention, more rule by decree, and more pandering to groups which were supposed to be pets of the administration. When will these pets begin to realize that they are being abused by their pretended champion?

In a situation like this, the tough have a better chance to survive. Those will be people who can take care of themselves, and rural people more than urbanized folk. Gun owners and those who can raise food will be better off than people in cities. States with little debt will do better than states who are, even now, broke.

The devil always makes lavish promises, but in the end, never delivers. So it is also with socialism.

He ran on a platform of class warfare and massive wealth redistribution. Americans goobled it up and gave him four more. The GOP is out of power for the balance of the nation’s short life. There is absolutely no way the GOP is going to sell hard work and wealth accumlation when Baraq O’Claus is giving out goodies to all “His people” (meaning more than just skin color).

At a certain point you lose your deduction anyway. Or at least for the Roth IRA. As long as they don’t try to take ours, let the lower incomes lose that deduction, they voted for it. I’m sorry but I’m not feeling much sympathy these days, let them all expire, let’s all go off the cliff.

9
posted on 12/01/2012 7:40:52 AM PST
by Qwackertoo
(Going into Politic Free Zone Momma Grizzly hibernation for a while after this week, maybe forever.)

It is a LOT MORE than just losing a deduction - the Government wants you to “voluntarily convert” these into Social Security annuities. Guess what - that is a CONFISCATION OF YOUR PRIVATE PROPERTY. You get NOTHING to leave to your heirs - ALL MONEY BELONGS TO THE GOVERNMENT /sarc

He ran on a platform of class warfare and massive wealth redistribution. Americans goobled it up and gave him four more.

This has happened before, particularly under FDR. If one watches movies of the 1930s (some of my favorites), there is often an undercurrent of class envy. It is even found in WWII propaganda movies, where the lower-class recruits must educate the snotty rich kid. It is found in anti-Nazi propaganda, where the Nazi officer is shown as an aristocratic, monocle-wearing devotee of high art, but with an evil streak. (In reality, most Nazis were lower middle-class, with the highest concentration in what would be the equivalent of our high-school teachers!)

We might look ahead, and wonder what Obama will do as his system collapses. He could simply encourage the process of dissolution of the Constitutional republic, by (for example) admitting unlimited numbers of immigrants, and by socializing by decree. This would be the more peaceful option.

The other is to go to war. This is what Hitler and his supporters chose when they felt that their popularity was waning, and that their economy was not really improving as they claimed. It probably also propelled Roosevelt toward war involvement.

I picture Obama solving the Middle East problem by helping evacuate the Israelis from their country in a rescue operation, as the Arabs overrun the place in a bloodbath. This could be painted as a great, humanitarian move, while bringing peace to a troubled area. What a nightmare!

These are a just a few of the many ways Obama is stealthily taking away more money from the middle class. He brazenly targets certain types of Americans for austere fiscal measures, while giving others a free pass.

Anyone who read Dinesh D'Souza's books or saw the movie 2016 knows what the story is behind the class warfare. In 0bama's view, EVERYONE in this country is the "1%", no matter how rich or poor you are. A poor person in this country has it better than most of the rest of the world. You see, like any true leftist believer, 0bama is a "citizen of the world", not a citizen of any one country. His mission is to bring this entire country down. He sees it as wrong that since WWII this country has been the biggest player and has tried to shape the world in its own way. 0bama wants us to be a nation of equals and he wants an end to "American imperialism". He gives himself away anytime he's caught off guard. From his statement about "American exceptionalism" , to his answer to Joe the Plumber , to his view that civil rights didn't focus on income redistribution,it's all there , and our dumbed down population of uninformed voters don't really get what he means.

In some ways 0bama is the anti-Reagan. Recall how during the '08 campaign there were stories about how he wanted to "study Reagan's presidency." Well as most on FR know, the one thing about Reagan was he may have compromised , but he never lost sight of his principles. His compromises were all for pushing his belief in the greatness of the U.S. and the free market.

0bama has the opposite beliefs. He may compromise (like the 2010 tax cut extension) , but he never loses sight of his ultimate goal, to bring this country to its knees, and destroy it from within. Far from being an empty suit with no core beliefs, he has a very dangerous set of core beliefs. Most sensible Americans would run in horror if they ever really understood his core beliefs.

Why do you think the Democrats fight so hard against cuts in the federal budget? Because cuts would mean layoffs of Democrat voters. It would mean doing away with the new welfare of a government job for Democrat voters. I guess too many conservatives don’t understand the socialist nations. The leaders in the socialist nations aren’t out pulling weeds in the garden. They lead the high life. Socialism/communism is a way for people to acquire wealth and power who couldn’t acquire wealth and power through the traditional means available in their culture. Socialism/communism is a big lie. The Democrat party is a big lie. I grew up in a union, Democrat family. My father told me over and over that the Republicans were just out to make money. As I grew up, I came to realize that the Democrat party was all about making money, too. They just lie about it. I chose to go with the honest party. Liars lie about everything, and the Democrats are total liars.

19
posted on 12/01/2012 8:20:22 AM PST
by blueunicorn6
("A crack shot and a good dancer")

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